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debaptism

Debaptism is the act
of renouncing one's baptism either by signing a document of
renunciation or by participating in a baptism renunciation
ceremony.

The word 'baptism' is
derived from the Greek word for wash or immerse.
Baptism is a
Christian sacrament signifying different things to different
groups of Christians. For some, baptism "cleanses and purifies"
one for entrance into the Christian community. For some, baptism
"washes away"
original sin
and is necessary for salvation.

Baptism is considered
irrevocable by Christian churches, however, so debaptism is a
secular act undertaken by adults who wish to renounce an act
imposed on them as infants or children.

The term and practice
of debaptism was the idea of the
National
Secular Society (NSS) and was introduced in 2004 "to mock
the practice of baptizing infants too young to consent to
religious rites."*
A Certificate of Debaptism can be purchased from NSS.

The Certificate of Debaptism reads:

I ________ having
been subjected to the Rite of Christian Baptism in infancy
(before reaching an age of consent), hereby publicly revoke any
implications of that Rite and renounce the Church that carried
it out. In the name of human reason, I reject all its Creeds and
all other such superstition in particular, the perfidious belief
that any baby needs to be cleansed by Baptism of alleged
ORIGINAL SIN, and the evil power of supposed demons. I wish to
be excluded henceforth from enhanced claims of church membership
numbers based on past baptismal statistics used, for example,
for the purpose of securing legislative privilege.

More than 100,000
debaptism certificates have been downloaded in the past five
years.*

The NSS is based in
London, England, but the debaptism movement has spread to other
European countries and has become popular in some parts of the
United States. "In a type of mock ceremony that's now been
performed in at least four states, a robed "priest" used a
hairdryer marked "reason" in an apparent bid to blow away
the waters of baptism once and for all."*
The Italian Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Unione
degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti, UAAR) says that about
1,000 Italians requested debaptism certificates for
Italy's "DeBaptism Day" last October.

Kagin believes
parents are wrong to baptize their children before they are able
to make their own choices, even slamming some religious
education as "child abuse." He said the blast of hot air was a
way for adults to undo what their parents had done.